Two Nebraska women are suing Joe Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade and the patriarch of the family that owns the Cubs, claiming he fired them from his Omaha-based charity after they complained of sexual harassment against his chief operating officer. Patricia Davis and Patricia Duncan filed the federal lawsuit against Ricketts and the Opportunity Education Foundation, a charity he runs, alleging Ricketts re-hired the charity's COO shortly after he was fired after the women's...

At age 47, Tom Ricketts is the youngest controlling owner of a Chicago sports franchise. He and his three siblings - all of whom sit on the Cubs' five-member board of directors - never have suggested his role as chairman will change. And unlike other Chicago teams, the Cubs lack the involvement of younger generations whose presence could signal a transition. In fact, none of Tom Ricketts' children has graduated high school. With plans for stadium upgrades, a huge video...

With so much going on in Chicago this weekend, it's amazing that Mayor Rahm Emanuel has the time to teach NATO delegates a lesson on the use of power politics. But the man is a teacher indeed. He isn't teaching the world leaders to sing in perfect harmony. The Rahmfather is teaching another kind of politics. The kind that brings influential people to their knees. It is a seminar for NATO on how things are done in Chicago. The mayor used Joe Ricketts, billionaire...

The Starlight Foundation reports: A survey of political contributions by Major League Baseball team employees and members of its ownership groups, show that the Chicago Cubs far exceeded all others. Led by Joe Ricketts, the Cubs gave $13.9 million in 2012. Second was the Orioles, with $1.8 million. Members of the White Sox gave a total of $260,543. Get the full report: starlightfoundation.com

As a lifelong Cubs fan who has often occupied a seat at Wrigley Field, I was very disappointed to read recently of the extreme conservative stance of Joe Ricketts. For him to finance a super PAC that has attempted to use Barack Obama's past minister to vilify the president is just plain wrong. This brand of outspoken hate politics has no place alongside the Chicago Cubs ownership. I believe in the First Amendment to the Constitution, but I recognize right-wing hate when I see it. I will refrain...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel summoned Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts and the aldermen representing the area to City Hall on Thursday afternoon in an effort to seal the deal on a $300 million Wrigley Field rehab, a Cubs source said today. Progress was made, but the global deal to clear the way for the project remains undone, the source said. “The mayor thinks this deal should have been finished a long time ago,” added a City Hall source. Just prior to the meeting,...

The Starlight Foundation reports: A survey of political contributions by Major League Baseball team employees and members of its ownership groups, show that the Chicago Cubs far exceeded all others. Led by Joe Ricketts, the Cubs gave $13.9 million in 2012. Second was the Orioles, with $1.8 million. Members of the White Sox gave a total of $260,543. Get the full report: starlightfoundation.com

With progress stalled in the effort to seal a deal for the $300 million rehab of Wrigley Field, the alderman who represents the area is talking tough about his terms of agreement. Ald. Thomas Tunney, 44th, said Thursday that he would not sign off on a deal unless it included more parking, better police protection and "aesthetic" assurances sought by Wrigleyville residents and businesses — all issues that have yet to be settled. Reminded that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is pushing...

The revered Chicago Cubs are seeking a city and state handout to spruce up the Friendly Confines known as Wrigley Field. Joe Ricketts' business fortune was used to purchase the team. His son, who runs the Cubs, is making an argument to receive nonexistent public money. The elder Mr. Ricketts is a passionate and active contributor to Republican politics, and presumably a strong advocate of government fiscal responsibility, including a balanced budget. Anything less would be violative of Republican principles.

From the Super Bowl to the sandlot, just as surely as players give 110 percent, the math of sports is always suspect. Sports isn't like other businesses. What other investment becomes more attractive because of its unpredictability? Revenue can always be accounted for, but what of ego, pride, loyalty, stubbornness or even the microns that separate a catch from a muff? In no other industry does a perennial also-ran continue to see its value increase. ...

Tribune Co.'s plan to sell the Chicago Cubs took a big step forward as the Ricketts family said Wednesday that it will sell some of its stock holdings to help finance its $900 million bid. The family is raising about $403 million by selling 34 million of its shares in TD Ameritrade Holding Corp., an online brokerage founded by Joe Ricketts, back to the company. The family is the brokerage's second-largest shareholder, after TD Bank Financial Group of Toronto. "Our...

While the stadium issues in Oakland and Tampa Bay are viewed as the most critical in baseball, Commissioner Bud Selig quietly is trying to help the Cubs secure funding for a public-private partnership that would allow Wrigley Field to be updated along the lines of Boston's Fenway Park. The State of Illinois rebuffed the Cubs two years ago, and talks with the City of Chicago have appeared stalled, in part because of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's displeasure at Joe Ricketts' opposition...

At age 47, Tom Ricketts is the youngest controlling owner of a Chicago sports franchise. He and his three siblings - all of whom sit on the Cubs' five-member board of directors - never have suggested his role as chairman will change. And unlike other Chicago teams, the Cubs lack the involvement of younger generations whose presence could signal a transition. In fact, none of Tom Ricketts' children has graduated high school. With plans for stadium upgrades, a huge video...

City Colleges of Chicago Chancellor Cheryl Hyman is overhauling her schools, ensuring students learn skills that lead directly to jobs. Vice Chancellor Willa Lang is charged with figuring how that's done exactly and recently called a meeting with about a dozen transportation industry managers at Olive-Harvey College, an '80s-era campus on the Far South Side ringed by highway ramps and railroad tracks. Three years from now,...

The long-shot prospect of taxpayer help to renovate Wrigley Field grew more remote Thursday, upended by revelations that the patriarch of the Chicago Cubs ' ownership team had been offered a plan for using a super PAC to run racially tinged attack ads that linked President Barack Obama to his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Joe Ricketts, the conservative billionaire founder of TD Ameritrade, whose family trust was used to buy the Cubs from Tribune Co.,...

The revered Chicago Cubs are seeking a city and state handout to spruce up the Friendly Confines known as Wrigley Field. Joe Ricketts' business fortune was used to purchase the team. His son, who runs the Cubs, is making an argument to receive nonexistent public money. The elder Mr. Ricketts is a passionate and active contributor to Republican politics, and presumably a strong advocate of government fiscal responsibility, including a balanced budget. Anything less would be violative of Republican principles.

Robert Redford , award-winning actor and director, threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Friday's Cubs-Pirates season opener at Wrigley Field. "A great stadium, one of the great ballparks in America," Redford said Thursday night after the debut screening of the film "The Conspirator" at the AMC River East 21 theater. The movie is based on the story of Mary Surratt, the lone female conspirator who was hanged for her role in the assassination of Abraham...

"I'M NOT gonna give advice to Romney. But a presidential candidate has a great responsibility to America to pick someone who is well fitted to the role. I think John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin is the single most irresponsible act of government I can remember." So said LBJ biographer Robert Caro to Time magazine when asked: "What advice would you give to Mitt Romney in looking for a running mate?" Huh! Angry Democrats and delighted Republicans might...

By Hal Dardick and Melissa Harris and Tribune reporters | May 17, 2012

The Ricketts family, owners of the Chicago Cubs, moved today to control the fallout from a now-disavowed plan to politically attack President Barack Obama, reportedly funded by the family patriarch. The New York Times first reported that a plan was submitted to Joe Ricketts to use $10 million to fund Super PAC advertisements linking Obama to the controversial preaching of his onetime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose teachings were perceived as a liability to...

Tom Ricketts needs to do something. Even in hiding from everyone except one reporter he believed he could use, Ricketts needs to order something done. A trade. Yeah, that's it. Ricketts needs to trade someone. Maybe he'll trade Matt Garza to the Yankees before first pitch tonight. No, it's not his job to make trades, but he doesn't seem to be able to do his job right now, unless his primary objective is to treat Cubs fans as stereotypically stupid. Before he became...